The Presence Process (Michael Brown)
The Pseudo Presence Process
[My two-star Amazon review (August 15, 2014) of “The Presence Process: A Journey into Present Moment Awareness†by Michael Brown]
I have little doubt that Michael Brown’s Presence Process can facilitate positive psychological transformation in individuals. The book deserves praise for providing a specific meditative practice and elaborated roadmap for personal growth and understanding. But that being said, the book is really a dumbed-down, hyper-psychologized New-Age perversion of the real Presence Process, which is spiritual in nature (meaning that it involves Divine Power or Clear-Light Energy in the Self-Awakening Project).
New Age authors like Brown bastardize terms like “Presence,â€Â “living in the now,†and “authentic beingness,†reducing them from descriptions of radical spiritual states to mere positive emotional states.
The true, or Divine, Presence is also a true, or Divine, Power – and this Power is Spirit, or Shakti. There can be no authenic Being-ness until one’s present-moment-awareness unites with, and is en-Light-ened by, the radiant Clear-Light Energy from above. Beingness is the union of one’s present-moment awareness (or consciousness) with Spirit, or Shakti. The Hindu formula: Sat (or Being) = Siva-Shakti (Consciousness-Energy) informs us that we must unite the “vine†of our individual consciousness with the “vine†of universal Spirit in order for us to authentically, or Di-vinely, Be.
There is nothing spiritual about the present moment or the momentary now. Until one’s awareness is baptized, or initiated, by the true Power (Spirit) of the true Now (Divine Presence), the real Presence Process cannot commence.
Michael Brown contradicts himself. Early in the book, he writes, “Throughout this text, I refer to this authentic Beingness as ‘Presence’ and call the radiant experience that becomes possible when this divine essence takes the reins of our life ‘present-moment’ awareness.†Here, Brown, momentarily, alludes to the spiritual dimension of the Presence Process, but there is no follow-up or elaboration on this statement. And then later in the text he writes, “This procedure isn’t intended to be a “spiritual process’ or a spiritual experience, although it undoubtedly impacts our vibrational awareness.†Also, his statement about divine essence taking “the reins of our life†implies surrender to the Divine, but he has nothing to say about surrendering, or opening, to the Spirit. This is what he writes about “surrenderâ€: “In the Presence Process, the word surrender doesn’t mean ‘give up to.’ It means surrender to the process and hence don’t give up, no matter what. To complete the Presence Process, therefore, is an act of surrender.â€
What is the real, spiritual Presence Process? It can best be understood as a dialectic, with present-moment awareness (“obedience†in Christian mysticism) as the thesis, surrender “poverty†in Christian mysticism) as the antithesis, and Divine Power (the illuminating Holy Spirit) as the synthesis. Unbeknownst to Brown, the way it works is that one’s present moment awareness (which I term “Plugged-in Presenceâ€) must generate enough conscious force to spontaneously induce one to yield to the “pressure of the Presence.†When one then utterly lets go, “impoverishing†oneself by self-emptying, then Spirit, or Shakti (the Sambhogakaya in Buddhism), fills one’s “empty cup†with Blessing Power, or Grace, from on high.
In summary, Michael Brown’s book is on par with other similar New Age live-in-the-now spin-offs stemming from Eckhart Tolles’s “The Power of Now.†If you are in the market for this type of “psychologized,†non-spiritual teaching, then also check out Noah Elkrief’s “A Guide to the Present Moment†(see my three-star review). But if you are interested in the the real, truly spiritual, Presence Process, you might want to check out my reviews of texts on Christian mysticism, Hindu Kashmir Shaivism, Tibetan Dzogchen, and Daism.
[My two-star Amazon review (August 15, 2014) of “The Presence Process: A Journey into Present Moment Awareness†by Michael Brown]
I have little doubt that Michael Brown’s Presence Process can facilitate positive psychological transformation in individuals. The book deserves praise for providing a specific meditative practice and elaborated roadmap for personal growth and understanding. But that being said, the book is really a dumbed-down, hyper-psychologized New-Age perversion of the real Presence Process, which is spiritual in nature (meaning that it involves Divine Power or Clear-Light Energy in the Self-Awakening Project).
New Age authors like Brown bastardize terms like “Presence,â€Â “living in the now,†and “authentic beingness,†reducing them from descriptions of radical spiritual states to mere positive emotional states.
The true, or Divine, Presence is also a true, or Divine, Power – and this Power is Spirit, or Shakti. There can be no authenic Being-ness until one’s present-moment-awareness unites with, and is en-Light-ened by, the radiant Clear-Light Energy from above. Beingness is the union of one’s present-moment awareness (or consciousness) with Spirit, or Shakti. The Hindu formula: Sat (or Being) = Siva-Shakti (Consciousness-Energy) informs us that we must unite the “vine†of our individual consciousness with the “vine†of universal Spirit in order for us to authentically, or Di-vinely, Be.
There is nothing spiritual about the present moment or the momentary now. Until one’s awareness is baptized, or initiated, by the true Power (Spirit) of the true Now (Divine Presence), the real Presence Process cannot commence.
Michael Brown contradicts himself. Early in the book, he writes, “Throughout this text, I refer to this authentic Beingness as ‘Presence’ and call the radiant experience that becomes possible when this divine essence takes the reins of our life ‘present-moment’ awareness.†Here, Brown, momentarily, alludes to the spiritual dimension of the Presence Process, but there is no follow-up or elaboration on this statement. And then later in the text he writes, “This procedure isn’t intended to be a “spiritual process’ or a spiritual experience, although it undoubtedly impacts our vibrational awareness.†Also, his statement about divine essence taking “the reins of our life†implies surrender to the Divine, but he has nothing to say about surrendering, or opening, to the Spirit. This is what he writes about “surrenderâ€: “In the Presence Process, the word surrender doesn’t mean ‘give up to.’ It means surrender to the process and hence don’t give up, no matter what. To complete the Presence Process, therefore, is an act of surrender.â€
What is the real, spiritual Presence Process? It can best be understood as a dialectic, with present-moment awareness (“obedience†in Christian mysticism) as the thesis, surrender “poverty†in Christian mysticism) as the antithesis, and Divine Power (the illuminating Holy Spirit) as the synthesis. Unbeknownst to Brown, the way it works is that one’s present moment awareness (which I term “Plugged-in Presenceâ€) must generate enough conscious force to spontaneously induce one to yield to the “pressure of the Presence.†When one then utterly lets go, “impoverishing†oneself by self-emptying, then Spirit, or Shakti (the Sambhogakaya in Buddhism), fills one’s “empty cup†with Blessing Power, or Grace, from on high.
In summary, Michael Brown’s book is on par with other similar New Age live-in-the-now spin-offs stemming from Eckhart Tolles’s “The Power of Now.†If you are in the market for this type of “psychologized,†non-spiritual teaching, then also check out Noah Elkrief’s “A Guide to the Present Moment†(see my three-star review). But if you are interested in the the real, truly spiritual, Presence Process, you might want to check out my reviews of texts on Christian mysticism, Hindu Kashmir Shaivism, Tibetan Dzogchen, and Daism.
